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Credit: AP

MILWAUKEE — This love affair with the greenest of the Green has been a fun excursion for many, but there are times when the men of a certain age have to be heard.

So it was Thursday night that when the Celtics got into trouble they leaned on their veteran All-Stars for protection. Al Horford went for 27 points and Kyrie Irving had 24 as the Bostonians took a 96-89 victory over the Bucks.

Fittingly for the circumstances under which the Celts won, this was a throwback game played at the Bucks’ old arena, the MECCA, across the street from the Bradley Center.

Before an intimate sellout gathering of 11,046, the C’s avenged the loss in their last game in the building, 117-116 on March 1, 1988.

The Celts fell behind by as many as seven in the third quarter, but Horford had his fingerprints all over the comeback that gave them a 72-69 lead entering the final frame.

First, the big man set up shop in the left corner and hit a pair of open 3-pointers. Then, after coming out for a break, he and Irving were re-inserted with half a second left to execute an inbounds play. With no time to catch and go back up with a shot, Irving lofted the ball to Horford near the rim, and the latter tossed it back through the strings in one motion.

That gave Horford 13 points for the period and 24 for the game.

Terry Rozier took the baton to start the fourth, hitting a jumper and on a drive. Marcus Smart then bounced back from an 0-for-5 start to hit a pair of treys (the latter by video review after originally being called a 2). Jayson Tatum’s drive completed a 30-11 run that put the Celts ahead by a dozen, 84-72.

This was an interesting turnaround test for the Celtics, coming eight nights after they’d slipped down the stretch and lost to the Bucks by eight in the Garden opener.

The hosts may have been a bit shell-shocked in that one, with the game coming just one night after Gordon Hayward went down with his nasty ankle fracture in Cleveland. There was a lot of emotion around the C’s, with Hayward delivering a pregame video message shot that day from his hospital bed.

In many ways, the club was still processing the loss of the star.

“You could throw in as many reasons or excuses or anything,” Kyrie Irving said earlier in the day. “It wasn’t an ideal week for us, so we understand that.”

On what the Celts needed to improve here, he said, “Just attention to detail, understanding what the game plan is and following it. (We) didn’t do a good job of executing in that first game, so there are definitely things we’re paying attention to coming into the MECCA, playing against a great Milwaukee Bucks team. So it’s a great turnaround for us. It’s a great test. Excited for the matchup.”

Both teams appeared excited in the tighter surroundings early. The Celtics pulled out to a 10-point lead less than halfway through the first quarter, and with Irving going for nine, they had a 28-23 lead after 12 minutes.

What’s more noteworthy is that they posted the 28 despite turning the ball over seven times. Three of the turns came on consecutive possessions while the C’s were in the midst of a 13-0 run highlighted by Tatum’s four-point play (hitting a trey while being fouled and adding the free throw). Two of those giveaways came on illegal screens.

The 28 was achieved, as well, even though the Celtics scored just one point in the last 2:29 of the period. And that point came on a Buck technical foul.

The C’s then proceeded to lose their way on offense in the second frame. They seemed to get lost somewhere out beyond the 3-point arc.

After missing their last two bombs in the first quarter, they clanged their first six from the distance in the second.

Irving then returned to the floor and restored some measure of Celtic order. He scored twice on twisting, juking drives and then stepped out to hit a 3 and end the Celts’ run of futility.

But the visitors went on to hit just 6-of-22 shots in the frame and produce a mere 15 points. The Bucks got seven points from Giannis Antetokounmpo and took a slim 44-43 lead into halftime.

Irving (6-for-9) and Horford (5-6) were certainly warm, but the rest of the C’s made just 3-of-24 shots. Jaylen Brown was 0-for-8, with half those misses coming on treys.